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Friday, May 31, 2013

Orange Ogura Cake

I would have prefer to call this the Orange Cotton Cake, cos the texture of this cake is really soft like cotton (almost fragile .... so scared that I will accidentally flatten it). The cake is very light, airy and moist. It is almost similar to chiffon.

First attempt on this cake, so I did my reading up on ogura cakes, from various bloggers to see if there are any important tips on making this cake. A quick summary on this cake:

1) Many eggs used - 6 eggs (AA grade), for a mere 7" square cake.

2) Similar method as making a chiffon cake, i.e. egg yolk batter and egg white prepared separately and combine using folding method.

1) Whisk (A) together till frothy (except for the orange zest). Add in (B) sifted flour, a little at a time and mix well into the batter. If there are still lumps of flour in the batter, sieve to obtain a smooth batter. Add in the orange zest and mix well.

[Note: At this stage, some bloggers advised to keep the prepared batter away from wind. Not sure why this is important. In any case, the weather is so hot now that there's hardly any breeze, so I just leave it aside while I whisk the egg whites]

2) Whisk (C) till peak. Take 1/4 of egg white and fold into step 1. Then fold in the rest of the egg white till well combined.

3) Pour the batter into 7" square pan and gently tap the pan to level the batter and to remove large air bubbles trapped in the batter.

[Note: Bottom of the pan must be lined (no need to grease). But the sides? Some bloggers lined the sides of the pan - obviously for easy removal of cake after baking. Some did not line or grease the sides (not sure if they used loose-bottomed pan or ordinary pan). I used a ordinary pan and only line the bottom (sides no line no grease). After baking, the cake stick onto the sides and I need to run the blade of a knife along the sides to loosen the cake. Next time, I shall line the sides to see if it works better for me]

4) Steam bake the cake at the lowest rack in preheated oven of 190C for 10 minutes, lower to 160C for another 10 minutes. Finally, lower the temperature to 140C and bake for another 45 to 50 minutes.

[Note: Oven temperature is an area where you need to do a little trial & error adjustment, since each oven works differently]

5) Remove cake from oven and invert the cake onto rack to cool completely before cutting.

25 comments:

Hi Fong, you are right. This kind of cake is so soft and cottony, that's why I have named these cakes cottony cake instead of Ogura or Souffle cakes. The tangy flavour of this cake is nice. One of my favourite. Very refreshing. I have baked these cakes with 3-7 eggs. Since this cake keeps well when refrigerated, I prefer to bake a bigger one.

I see. I baked another batch yesterday, this time I lined the sides. But then, the cake did not rise as beautifully as the first time ( w/o lining and greasing). The cake still taste good though, soft and moist.

Yes, that's what I mean by steam bake - the method commonly used for baking cheesecake. But in addition, I will place a rack on top of the bigger tray before placing the cake pan on it, so that the water does not touch the cake pan (to prevent water from seeping in).

The texture of this cake is really soft, so if you are using it for fresh fruit and cream cake, probably you just want to keep it to 2 layers of cake sandwiched with fruits and light cream in between.As this cake is using the chiffon cake method, preferably the baking pan should be either a chiffon tube pan or a small cake pan. If the cake pan is too big, the cake is likely to shrink in the centre. Alternatively, you can use the recipe and bake the cake in your 9 x 13 pan as a thin layer (like a swiss roll). If you are making a small cake, after baking, cut the cake into 2 and stack them together. If you are making a big cake, then bake another tray to get 2 layers. For thin layer cake batter, the oven temp is around 190C for around 10 to 12 mins. The top should be light golden brown and test with a wooden skewer to check if cake is done.

This cake, like other chiffon cakes have a tendency to shrink a little after baking. But if your cake deflates badly, I suspect the problem may lies in the whisking and folding of egg whites. I'm no expert too when it comes to baking chiffon cakes, so I cant really explain how exactly you must whisk your egg whites, or to what extend to be whisked and folded. For myself, I usually whisk just before stiff peak and fold with hands.